VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 283 Date: 27.05.2019
Contents:
1. Modi's Victory In Lok Sabha Elections Truly Remarkable
2. The Need For More Broadbased Leadership Within BJP
3. Narendra Modi's Eyeball Management During Lok Sabha Election Campaign
4. Goa Government Should Stop Bluffing The People
Modi's Victory In Lok Sabha Elections Truly Remarkable
Narendra Modi led from the front in the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and pulled off a stupendous victory for the BJP & the NDA coalition. Inspite of the adverse reports in the handling of the economy, Modi overcame these and rode home on the stability of leadership and the nationalism plank. With a splintered Opposition and with the Mahagathbandhan likely to unspool itself as we saw Mayawati unable to read the writing on the wall and even on 22 May stake a claim to become Prime Minister, the people had little to choose except Modi. The 67.11% voter turnout, the highest recorded in independent India, lent credibility that this election was truly more representative than earlier general elections. Some of the Opposition leaders in the Hindi cow belt had complained of the elections being held in the heat of May, the peak summer month but Modi not only cooked their goose but also if there had been more turnout if elections were held in more equable climes, one could safely say that the margin of defeat for the Opposition would have been larger. Not only that the vote share of the BJP touched 38% this time and the consolidated NDA close to 48% which is unimaginable. Thus in hindsight one can say that the Modi juggernaut this time was unstoppable. The prime movers of this vehicle Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had butterflies in their stomach as one could sense before the polling in the 6th phase but with the exit polls confirming a Narendra Modi led BJP and NDA victory on 20th May, all doubts were set aside. With a second term in government Narendra Modi has to assume a greater responsibility of delivering to the nation the 'acche din' that he had promised in 2014. If he messes the economy any further or assuming carte blanche from the present mandate becomes adventurous and unleashes another storm on the people like he did with demonetisation, they are not likely to forgive him or the BJP ever again, for this time they have voted with their heart and not with the mind and the scars on the heart take longer to heal than those in the mind. One hopes that Modi will heed that.
The Need For More Broadbased Leadership Within BJP
What Modi said about Sadhvi Pragya's comment on Nathuram Godse being a 'patriot' in the majority applies to him also. He should actually stand in front of a mirror and say it again so that his tongue becomes more civil the next time elections come around. Not only that Modi's gaffes about the Balakot attack that he cleared because of the cloud cover over the target and that our planes would therefore not be detected and then the out and out lie about sending Advani's colour photos by email in 1988 when not only had colour cameras not come to India nor was email commonly used, has brought to the fore the mindset of the man. With this background why some of the BJP heads are being rented out to Narendra Modi is a mystery. Acknowledged professionals and recognised people in their own fields like Jaitley, Goyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rathore are insulting their own intelligence by playing second fiddle to Modi and behaving like yes-men. One hopes as time goes by these things will change and the BJP will come out as a party with a more broad based leadership profile.
Narendra Modi's Eyeball Management During Lok Sabha Election Campaign
Narendra Modi's election managers have persistently kept him in the eyeballs of the country through the lead up and during the Lok Sabha election schedule. Consider the latest coup of sorts on this with Modi's visit to Kedarnath the day before polling for the last schedule of elections on 19th May 2017 making sure that on the day before and on the last polling day the face of Modi would be on every TV channel and he would keep social media abuzz. The next day he visited Badrinath and publicly thanked the Election Commission for permitting him to visit Kedar & Badri for a well earned break after the rough and tumble of election campaigning. From whom else would you get a more tongue in cheek, mischievous and impudent comment than Narendra Modi. Consider the CEC's position who is faced with a Hobson's choice. If he says no to Modi for the temple visits, the BJP will go to town saying that the EC stopped the PM from going on a pilgrimage. He will also surely sacrifice his post-retirement governorship or the ambassadorship of a country like maybe Seychelles which he has almost earned. If he approves Modi's visit then he will have to face a barrage of Opposition words which in any case he has got used to by now. So the CEC chose one of the two options that has the lesser impact on him personally and that is allow Modi to visit Kedar & Badri. These are the areas where Modi street smart that he is, has pulled the carpet from under the Opposition's feet. They have no answer for these kind of events and neither the ability to anticipate such happenings and counteract them by similar or equivalent events of their own to take away the thunder from Modi. This has been the story of Modi's calculated election campaign that started almost 2 years ago with the launch in chronological order of the Webseries on Modi, then the Namo App, the Namo biopic and finally the great photo ops in front of the Kedar & Badri temples, including the one in the cave at Kedarnath. To those religiously inclined he has sent a message also that he was there on the last day when the Kedarnath temple closed this year and again there on the first day when it reopened so that Lord Shiva would not miss him!
Goa Government Should Stop Bluffing The People
The Goa government has been literally in hibernation until now. One cannot fault the new CM Sawant since he needed some time to settle down. The uncertainty about the results of the 4 Assembly bye-polls is now over and with the BJP winning 3 out of 4 there is really nothing to worry about anymore. However one must compliment the new CM for trying to find a solution to the mining Issue by attempting to get the 18 leases not covered by the Supreme Court's closure order to start work. Why this was not thought earlier even by the late Manohar Parrikar is a mystery. Keeping mining going would have indicated a semblance of normalcy and reduced the pain somewhat which the mining dependant people were facing. As said earlier why those directly affected by the stoppage of mining operations also did not come out with this option will probably never be known. This cannot be a new discovery of CM Sawant! Why did this not come out for the last 3 years or more? So one suspects that this should not be yet another diversionary tactic by the incumbent government to fool the people again? We are constantly seeing these bluffs played by our politicians and governments on the people of Goa. Like we are now suffering water shortage everywhere more so the areas served by the Opa plant and though we know that it is summer, where is the 24x7 supply of water promised by the earlier PWD Minister? We all know that a majority of the 100 inches of average rainfall that we get every year flows into the Arabian Sea. Why is this not being stored along the length of our major rivers like the Mandovi and the Zuari in man-made lakes or reservoirs? To supplement Opa now we are drawing water from the mining pits while if we had lakes built then this would form a big step in water conservation and these lakes being along the course of the rivers would eliminate or at least reduce the water shortfall that Goa faces particularly in the summer months on contiguous areas on the river banks. These lakes depending on the topography can be integrated with mini-hydel projects and mini-turbines to supply electric power to villages adjoining the manmade lakes. They can be even used for fish farming. Similarly we are again seeing in the newspapers lately that the Electricity Dept. is going to spend Rs. 1000 crores to upgrade the power supply system in the State. Here again the Minister had said earlier that in 3 years time there will be no power cuts and Goa will get 24x7 uninterruptible power supply. Is this yet another bluff since day in day out we are seeing more and more frequent power cuts. It is all right to tell us that in the future we will get both power and water on a 24x7 basis but should we not see some progress towards that goal by mitigating the problems we see now and reducing the pain. These baby steps towards the exemplary goal will make us believe that the future is indeed rosy as painted by our Ministers.
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